Hubby learns the true value Of Patience

Hubby here:
Patience? We all use the word directed at others when we want them to slow or wait for something. We also like to describe ourselves as being patient. Me personally, I have now added the word "patience" to my project design and time analysis over the last year. I've also directly related patience to time. Over the last year as we have grown in our skills and knowledge on the farm I personally, and very humbly, have come to realize if you analyze your project or task and determine for example that putting up barbed wire fencing will only take about 1 1/2 to 2 days... triple that or even quadruple that time!! Then figure out if it will be 100 plus degrees during the day or will the infamous biting ladybugs drive you to distraction. And worst, when you feel your age, exhaustion and that durn picket post-pounder has mysteriously gained 40 pounds by the end of the day that maybe you really do need to add a few more days to the project. "Patience"... my new word for the day.

Well house and other projects

One coat of stain

Two coats of stain

This time last year we were cold, miserable, and damp!  In contrast, today I was able to apply the final coat of stain to the well-house door well before lunch while wearing a tank top instead of several layers of flannel!  I'm torn between the look with one coat of stain and that with two coats.  I think somewhere in between would be perfect, but I suspect (hope) the wood grain will show through better by tomorrow.

Finished Door

The stain (Minwax White Pickling Stain) is easy to apply and clean up.  We've been able to keep the rustic look of the boards while having the door white enough to tie in with the trim.  I did not use the pre-stain treatment as one of the things it does it stop the wood fibers from curling up.  We'd want that on a kitchen cabinet, but not on this project.  We still have some trim work left, but the well house is almost done.  One more thing off the to-do list.

We spent most of the rest of the morning gathering rocks from around the property to build up the area below the old clay culvert that runs under an old road bed built around the early 1900s.  We cleared out some more brush around the area yesterday, and I planted some more daffodils and a weeping willow tree behind the bench.   Even though the Stratford-upon-Avon council cut down the willow trees  decades ago, I will always associate weeping willows with the banks of the River Avon.    Although the willow is still shorter than I am, our memory-bench is already the perfect place to sit and think about family members.   If the blue bells and daffodils flourish, it will almost be a little piece of England.  

Clay culvert

Some of the stacked stone around the culvert has crumbled away and there was a deep erosion hole below the culvert.   In order to minimize additional damage,  we've raised the level in the hole by about 2 feet and cleared the stream bed to facilitate drainage.  Eventually we plan to have rock all the way to the small pool that naturally forms 90% of the year.  I hear hubby throwing rocks in the cart now, but I don't plan on picking up even one more today.  We pulled some moss up from another part of the property and packed that around some of the stones further down than this picture shows, and I transplanted some ferns along the edge of the dry-stream.  We'll throw some wild-flower seeds out in spring and make the place as inviting to humans and bees as possible.

Talking of bees -- they too are enjoying a very warm Christmas day and the way the clover is growing bodes well for spring honey.    We'll soon plant fruit and Sourwood trees for them (and us) -- hubby used the auger on the Bobcat to make planting those a little easier once we manage to get the trees down here.  Even if the holes he dug collapse a little, digging them back out will be easier than digging hard-packed clay by hand.

So our non-traditional Christmas Day is drawing to a close.   The sky is turning shades of pale yellow and blue as the sun sinks behind the pines, and we couldn't be happier.   We've had a low-stress day puttering around the farm and supper is bubbling away in the Crockpot.  When I think back to all the Christmases I was unhappy because I didn't get the gift I wanted, I wish I learned earlier to look for happiness in other places.    Other than wishing we had enough money to retire now, everything we want is right here -- and not being able to retire now gives us time to actually build a house!

Small Hive Beetles

Small hive beetles are much like vampires in that they hate sunlight, which is probably why I saw no evidence of beetles in my English hive which sits in the middle of a sunny spot, but huge numbers of beetles in our hives in a relatively shady area.   Adjacent hives even have different levels of infestation, with the strongest hives having lower numbers of beetles.   While I can't turn a weaker hive into prize fighters overnight, I can do something about the sunshine, which is why I spent much of yesterday shifting the brush line further back from Bee Lane.   Hives that were in the shade at 10:00 a.m. yesterday were in full sunlight this morning. We hope that helps somewhat.   We have mineral oil traps (Beetle Blaster) in the hives, but our schedules haven't allowed us to maintain them and let them do their job -- which they do very well!

One thing the beetles have managed to do is get me beyond being squeamish about squishing bugs!   When I lived alone, my preferred bug disposal method was a vacuum cleaner stretched out at arms' length and a can of Raid.  (Sometimes the whole can, according to Hubby's version of certain stories.) Teaching got me to the point of being able to chase a cockroach down with a broom and dustpan so as not to let my students see how much doing that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up!   Beekeeping now has me using my hive tool to squish beetles and moths and even using it to kill a roach yesterday.    Sadly for Hubby, none of that translates into me taking care of bugs in the house,  as there is no rational reason to be scared of creepy crawlies in the first place, I'm not even going to try to figure out why outdoor-me and indoor-me have such contradictory attitudes towards some things at times!

Other projects in the works this week are staining the door to the well house with Minwax White Pickling Stain, clearing the area around the beautiful old culvert, planting trees, planting the remaining daffodil bulbs, fencing, and weed eating.    More about those later. 

Maggie

Maggie continues to enjoy the farm, and expends enough energy to power a small city while running in circles like a grey hound and digging holes in which to bury her bones.   Her favorite toys when we are here are a tennis ball and empty diet Coke bottles.   She is the first dog either of us has had that actually fetches sticks -- it just has be the "right" stick.   She also loves racing the four-wheeler and can keep up with Hubby when he's driving over 15 m.p.h.   She travels better now, which is good as she spits out motion sickness pills even when they are wrapped up in pill pockets.    We love having a dog again.  We love being here at the farm.  We even love our tiny house on wheels.   Life is good.

Well, well, well.....

Well house

Well, it's been a little over a year now since we purchased the farm, and it's amazing to look back at photographs and Google Earth and realize just how much has changed.  Like so many other areas in life, we tend to focus on what we have left to do and thereby lose sight of what we have accomplished.   Then we think back to last winter break: the torrential rain, the leaky RV and getting stuck in the mud!   Now we have a driveway, the RV no longer leaks, we have indoor plumbing, and we are able to live on the land. 

Now that we are heading back into winter, we have to protect the progress we've made.   One of our first projects is protecting the well.  Hubby and BIL framed the well-house in October, and we were able to get it dried in a couple of weekends ago.   We made it a little bigger than necessary so that we'd actually have room to work in there as the need arises!   BIL had to have the pump replaced on his well, so we were able to take his experience and plan for the possibility of needing to cut a hole in the roof!   Eventually we'll place a cupola on the roof to allow for ventilation and for access to the pump from above, but that probably won't happen until next summer. 

Well house - enclosed

The cupola will be the finishing touch on what will be my little red schoolhouse.   Hubby was originally going to build a full sized shed in the style of a school house, but now that we've gone with the less costly and more secure shipping container, I get to downsize my decorating.   We already have the siding and the red paint, so maybe that step will be done by the end of Thanksgiving break.   After that, I'll buy some of the curlicue decorative stuff from Lowes and jazz it up a little.

We'd seen Ondura roofing on HGTV some time ago, and had considered it for the house.   We decided to try it on the well-house first.  It was easy to install and we love the vibrant color.   However, we bumped into the end of one sheet with the ladder and damaged it.   It withstands pressure from above well, but we worry about how much would end up damaged during installation of a full roof.   The ridge cap is also a little wavy.    The sheets cut well with a circular saw.   Ondura is supposed to be resistant to hail damage, and I believe it will be because of its flexibility.   It's a good product and attractive, but we think we'll go with a metal roof when we build the house.

R & R at the farm

English Hive

We went down to the farm last weekend and had a time of relaxation and appreciation.  We have been working so hard all summer, but this time we spent very little time working and a whole lot of time sitting in lawn chairs envisioning the future.  It was time to sit back and look at all we have accomplished and to daydream about future changes.  

BIL came by early afternoon on Saturday, and we all just sat around a caught up on news while the dogs played and got rid of maybe 10 percent of their energy!   Maggie enjoys being able to explore without a leash now, although we try to keep her within sight as she has a propensity of heading toward the road.    Sage and Maggie did sneak off into the woods for a while, and I suspect they tried to visit the creek.   When we put the travel harness on Maggie Sunday afternoon, she pouted and refused to come near the car, so she clearly prefers farm life to city life.

Other than BIL, we had no visitors, and, much as I love being surrounded by friends and family, it was really nice to sit alone with hubby and eat supper by a campfire.   (BIL brought us rocks for a fire ring last trip, and evenings are now cool enough for a fire.  We love it!)   

Despite a lack of rain, most of the lavender, rosemary, and magnolia plants are doing well.   We have sprinklers running on timers by the new magnolias, but the lavender and rosemary are somehow hanging in there without any help.   We run sprinklers to soak the soil when we are there, but it's still amazing that the plants can survive the current drought.   One of the gardenia "bushes" was a 3 inch twig with two leaves when I planted it and has grown to a nine inch, healthy plant.   The Buddleja bushes are about 18 inches tall and full of flowers.   

We talked about letting one of the logging trails return to nature and clearing the trail that follows the old road bed as a new access to the fire break at the property boundary.   We fought our way through the briars to find the spot where the road bed crosses a drainage culvert that we want to keep visible.   We have not stood there for a while, and we had forgotten the beautiful views all around.  We decided to clear a path down there next trip so that we can plant my weeping willow there and put a bench under it.  It is the perfect spot to sit quietly and look out over what will eventually be a pond, then look over to where the house will be,  and just reflect on life in general.   When I lived in Stratford-upon-Avon, there were weeping willows all along the river bank, so the willow will be a reminder of loved ones, especially my father.   Next weekend would have been my father's 90th birthday, so that would be a really nice time to set that area up.  

Wipe Out

Last week, Dorchester County, SC decided to combat mosquitoes with an aerial application of pesticide.  One apiary alone lost 46 hives in just a few hours.    To an outsider, that may look like an equable loss, given the severe impacts of the Zika virus, but to a beekeeper it represents the loss of years of hard work and the likely loss of income until next spring when they can start their business from scratch.   The pesticide didn't just kill the bees that were foraging -- it killed the bees and the larvae in the hives.  Total destruction.   Any honey in the hives is also non-marketable now that it is contaminated with pesticides. 

Dead bees under hive

On a smaller scale, we are dealing with the same problem at our house in the city.   Our neighbor has her yard sprayed monthly as her son is very allergic to mosquito bites.  That is her right.   However, the EPA requires that citizens be notified in advance before toxic chemicals that can drift from one yard to another are sprayed in the air.  The EPA also requires that pesticide companies ensure their products do not drift from the intended application site to other people's properties.   After calling the company, we now sometimes get a phone call 30 minutes before the technician arrives, during the day, while we are at work.  But not this past weekend. A phone call or email the day before would allow us to protect our bees and honey.

In addition, the company told us that the spray was not toxic to bees, and left no residue.   Wrong and wrong again.   The chemical they are using, CYZMIC CS, is highly toxic to bees, is a skin and respiratory-tract irritant for humans and remains on any flowers it comes into contact with.   

When we returned from Labor Day weekend at the farm, the ground around one of our Nuc splits was littered with dead bees and, on opening the hive, we found a 75% bee loss.  Over the next few days, more bees died and the surviving bees pulled the contaminated larvae out of the frames.  The state regulatory investigator from Clemson University confirmed that the hive loss was a result of pesticide application.  They took the hive with them so that they can try to determine which pesticide was used, and we are waiting to hear back.  Even if they had not taken the hive, we would have had to destroy it as the chemicals are clearly ingrained in the wood and frames.   The second Nuc from our recent split has less damage, and we are hoping the queen cell and larvae in there are viable. 

UPDATE: January 2017 -- Clemson University confirmed that the bee loss was due to pesticide application, and we lost the second Nuc.   The mosquito-spray company was not responsible, but a neighbor told us that she saw someone go into our backyard Labor Day weekend, so it seems like someone intentionally killed our bees.  We have heard of that happening to other bee keepers, and that is the main reason we have moved most of our hives to the country.   

Dead bees at the bottom of the hive

What to do?   It is possible to kill mosquitoes while minimizing bee loss by administering chemicals very early morning before the bees are out and about.  There will still be some bee loss, but not total destruction of colonies.    Informing beekeepers in advance gives them time to trap the bees in the hive at night and keep them "indoors" until it's relatively safe.   Even giving beekeepers enough advance warning to let them throw sheets over hives is better than nothing.

Beekeepers also have to be proactive.   Register your apiary's!   In South Carolina this is done through Clemson University.   Companies that administer pesticides are required to review the database of apiary locations before applying chemicals that can harm bees.   Beekeepers also need to report losses to the EPA.  The Honey Bee Health Coalition has a wonderful incident reporting guide.  It won't get the bees back, but it may reduce future losses.

We got into this business when we figured out that no bees = no tomatoes + no zucchini in our garden.  And that's just the tip of the pollination iceberg.   There's more at stake here than some annoying insects that sting.

The good news (let's end this on a positive note) is that the master beekeeper who investigated our hives as  part of the regulatory team said that our other hives are very healthy and clearly well maintained.  He told hubby that we should keep doing what we are doing because it is clearly working.  It was good to have our apiary practices classified as professional and to hear that the bee loss was in no way-shape-or-from a result of anything that we could have done or prevented.   

Division feeder

Last week, we installed a division feeder in my English hive.    When I checked the hive yesterday, the feeder was empty.   Some must have evaporated as the ladders don't quite reach the bottom, but the bees drank a gallon of nectar.   It was easy to remove the cap and ladder to check and refill the feeder.  (The cap and ladder we have is a wooden block with ladders similar to the ones in the link, but I'm not sure where hubby bought them.)  We like the idea of feeding just our bees and this seems to work better than the bucket feeders on top of frames.   There were no drownings, and that's always a good thing.   It would be interesting to know how long it takes a hive to drink a gallon, but I don't want to disturb the hive too often to check.  Regardless, we were putting out 5 gallons of syrup every two days and feeding every bee in the neighborhood with the exterior feeders.  

 It's hard to tell how much nectar the bees pulled from the feeder and how much they are finding on their own as there are clear signs that we are exiting the summer dearth, but the bees sure did fill a lot of frames in just one week.   It doesn't seem to be enough yet to inspire growth -- there are still new larvae present, but not in great numbers.   There was a lot of capped brood in our one large hive -- they are ramping up and producing some drones again, but nothing like we saw in spring.

Hubby is out inspecting our other big hive right now, but I am staying indoors and nursing my mixture of ant bites, mosquito bites, and bee stings from this week!    An oatmeal bath followed by application of lavender essential oil finally stopped the itching.  The fire ant bites are the worst, but the fire ants are also the easiest to deal with!    After an application of Amdro, there are no more fire ants in front of the English hive, so neither the dog nor I need to worry about watching the bees go about their day.   It may be a good thing that the dog no longer wants to sit in front of the hive -- if it prevents her from getting stung again, I'll suck up the bites on my feet.

The two big hives are jam-packed, so we made some splits this morning.   We already had some bees in the queen castle, but they never managed to produce a queen that we could find.  There was some uncapped brood in there, but no young brood.  We moved the frames with resources over to a nuc and added some brood from the other hive and then created one more nuc.   We'll move those nucs out to the out-yards one evening this week and hopefully get new queens soon.

It's hard to be so far from the farm for so long and not know what the bees, trees, grass, and flowers are up to in our absence.   Those bees were pulling in nectar from the woods three weeks ago, and we left them with room to grow.  It will be exciting to see what they are up to!

Meet Maggie

Maggie - August 4, 2016

Meet Maggie, the four-legged (as opposed to the two-legged and four-winged) queen of Magnolia Hill Farm, from whence her name is derived.  We're still working on the hierarchy of the different queens, but most of the time I still consider myself to be at the top of the list.

We adopted Maggie from the Coweta County Animal Shelter.  We went there to look at a different dog, but Maggie was just so sweet, she won us over very quickly.   We couldn't bring her home for a week as the shelter does not release animals until after they have been spayed or neutered, but she has made herself at home in just five days.

Maggie is a Catahoula mix and has already shown hunting instincts and/or training.   One characteristic of Catahoula's is that they stalk silently and only bay once they have treed their prey.  It was two days before we heard Maggie bark, but she has since alerted us to things that she thinks are noteworthy!   Oddly, she barks a lot when hubby comes home from work.   We think the diffference to her reaction to my returns to the house and hubby's have to do with her being in her crate when I leave to run errands instead of being asleep on the couch when hubby has arrived home the past two evenings.  We'll get confirmation of that when hubby comes home at lunch to let her out tomorrow.

Maggie got a clean bill of health at our vet yesterday and behaved very well during our two hour visit there.   In fact, she was less irritable than I was!  Between my doctor's visit and hers, I spent far two much time in uncomfortable chairs yesterday.   (At least I didn't pee on the floor like somedog I know!)    

On Friday, my plan was that Maggie would not be a couch potato, but by the time I got up at 6:50 a.m. on Saturday, she owned half the couch at the RV and now claims anywhere from 1/3 - 2/3 of the couch at the house, depending on how many humans are sharing the couch with her.    She enjoys pouncing at the lawn mower and vacuum cleaner, but grows bored very quickly with toys.  She does not like us to be out of her sight.   Right now, we're hoping that being car-sick was a one-time deal, but I guess we'll find out this weekend!

Maggie helps fold laundry.

Maggie has to be right in the middle of everything we do, including folding laundry.  She curled up in the middle of the unfolded and then the folded clothes this afternoon and did her best to prolong a chore that I don't much like anyway.    After six weeks in the shelter, we understand her being a little clingy and that is getting better as time passes.   Owing a dog certainly isn't always convenient, but we are really enjoying her company, her curiosity, and her affection.

Secure storage

Shipping container delivery

One of the biggest inconveniences we've encountered over the last few months has been a result of not having anywhere to safely store tools and supplies when we are not at the farm -- or even overnight while we're sleeping!   Since moving the RV to the farm, we've used it as storage -- piling stuff in there before we leave and then having to drag it all back out again when we return.   And there's only so much we can pile in our mini living room.   Even after living on our land for three weeks now, many of our tools and fencing supplies are still at BIL's farm, in the city, or riding around in the back of my car.   It is so very unproductive.  

We looked at metal and wood storage buildings.   One big enough to double as a work-space and storage area would cost at least $6,000 and they all have windows, which makes them fairly easy to break in to.    We went round and round for months, and finally settled on getting a shipping container.   It is cost-effective and secure.  

The next step was finding a company from which to purchase one.   BIL bought one in spring and had to deal with missed delivery dates and an eventual delivery that was four hours late.   We were prepared for a big hassle.   If we had known how easy it could be, we may have bought one sooner!  

We went to Jenco Sales, Inc. in Newnan, Georgia and received great service, a great price, and a delivery man who apologized for being five minutes late.  I was a little hesitant when we arrived at the sales office because it looked different to what I expected, but that all changed the minute we were greeted and shown the different sizes and conditions of containers for sale.  (Hubby thinks I'm crazy for expecting a car dealership type setup!)   The staff could not have been more helpful and friendly.   We had to cancel our first delivery date due to weather, and the company took that in stride.   Hubby talked with office staff and the owner as we worked around predicted thunderstorms, and everyone was wonderful.     

We don't have much in there right now, but we like knowing that it would take a whole lot of effort and heavy equipment for someone to take our garden rakes and shovels!    We especially like knowing that the rakes and shovels will be in the same city as we are next time I want to plant a daylily!

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" William Shakespeare

Hummingbird

As soon as we arrived at the farm on Friday, the hummingbirds started chattering and darting around the almost empty feeder.   We originally thought there was one pair nesting close to our RV, but there are far more than that.   We so enjoyed watching their antics just a few steps away from our porch that I bought two more feeders on Saturday.    We put them out as soon as we returned home, but the hummingbirds were clearly distrustful of the new feeders Saturday evening.   I hoped to see hummingbirds on every feeder Sunday morning, but our bees renamed them bee feeders!   I guess hummingbird syrup is just as sweet as sugar water!   It didn't matter to the bees that they have their very own 5 gallon bucket of sugar water just around the corner from the hives or that they were uninvited guests at the RV.   I initially thought there was a mosquito in the RV when I was making coffee, but it turned out to be the bees we could hear buzzing around outside talking about these new red, plastic flowers that appeared overnight!   They then moved right in and chased the hummingbirds away.   However, they were unable to reach the nectar in one feeder once all the spilled sugar water was gone, so they eventually moved away and left that one for the birds.

However, they very quickly took ownership of the new feeder with a flat top.   Not only did they clean up leaking syrup from a gap between the lid and the top, they were able to stick their probosces through the holes and drink to their hearts' content.   They were still their guzzling away when we left at lunchtime.    Luckily for the hummingbirds, no bees or wasps were interested in the 99 cent feeder, so the birds ended up with two feeders to fight over.   And fight they did.    I've always wondered how hummingbirds survive when they seem to spend more time being territorial than drinking.  There are four perches on the original feeder -- why can't they just get along and hang out together?  

The bees in the city and at the farm continue their feeding frenzy on the buckets and manage to drink 5 gallons of sugar water a day.   It's amazing to see;  I equate it to scenes of mall doors opening on Black Friday.   A year ago I would have found it terrifying to watch, but now I know they are more interested in food than in me and the biggest danger comes from standing in the flight path of a highly focused bee!     The bees are also bringing back more pollen than a couple of weeks ago and the queens are laying eggs again in both locations.   The first Goldenrod flowers opened at the farm over the weekend, so the bees will soon have plenty of natural food.   I haven't seen any Goldenrod around here yet, but it can't be far behind.

Why do we feed bees?   Well, they would normally just stop reproducing at times like this when resources are scarce, and we are trying to increase our bee numbers before the final strong pollen and nectar flow occurs in fall.   We were able to move two hives from 5 frame Nucs to 10 frame hives on Saturday, and did the same to two growing hives at one of our outyards one (very hot) day last week.   If we can move into this time that resources are available with newly founded hives, they will have time to store supplies to get them through most of the winter.   They more they can store, the less we have to feed them over winter, and the more food they have in December, the faster our bee numbers will grow in spring.   Our focus so far has been in growing the number of bees.   In spring, we'll focus on bee growth in some locations and honey in others.  

Bees drinking on flat hummingbird feeder.

Lavender and figs

Fig jam

We had planned to take it easy last night, but the fig tree had other ideas!   We arrived home shortly after 4:00 p.m. after driving through a thunderstorm only to find our sub-division bone dry and a fig tree weighed down with beautiful, ripe figs.  We picked 15 pounds of figs in about 20 minutes, and our restful evening turned into making jam until 9:30 p.m..  I quickly loaded the dishwasher with jars to sterilize, and got to chopping and stirring.   Hubby measured the sugar and we loaded everything into the new 18 quart pot.  It is only logical that it takes a whole lot longer to bring that much jam to a boil than my normal 2 - 3 pounds of figs, but it turned out well in the end.  Well, it turned it okay -- I underestimated the number of jars I needed, so we have plastic containers of jam in the fridge for our consumption.   We ran out of jam by Christmas last year; I don't think that will be a problem this year.    I am going to attempt fig jelly with the next batch, which will probably be tomorrow. My mom wouldn't have been able to eat the jam with all the seeds, so I want to experiment with some seed-free varieties.

Nuc with lid feeders and robbing screen

While I was finishing up the jam, hubby installed a robbing screen on the front of the new Nuc with the found queen and topped off the Mason-jar lid feeders.  As we are in a dearth, we don't have fresh brood in other hives to strengthen this hive, and they don't currently have enough bees to defend against being robbed by bees from other hives.  We like lid feeders and top feeders because we can be certain we are feeding our bees and not every bee in a three mile radius.  Bringing in "guest" bees invites robbing when feeder buckets become empty and the guests start looking around for free snacks around them.

Planted cuttings

We had a busy weekend at the farm.  Hubby improved and adjusted the leveling of the RV, and I planted cuttings and seedlings.   I had no idea that I had 16 lavender cuttings and only two rosemary plants until I started digging holes.   I know I had more rosemary when I gave a tray to one of my fellow teachers, so I must have lost some the week the sprinklers didn't work well at the house.   I stopped counting mint plants as I placed them around the RV.   Their roots will help with our erosion problem and their strong scent is supposed to deter snakes!   I also had some Columbine seedlings that were doing amazingly well in the heat of summer and some Echinacea seedlings that don't seem to have grown at all in the past two months.  

In addition, we planted four gardenia cuttings, five butterfly bush cuttings, and seven Goldenraintrees.  Our Goldenraintree at home is close to blooming, and it is a rich nectar source for bees, which is why we want plenty at the farm even though they can be invasive in the South.  (Seed germination rates are lower in cooler regions.)

This afternoon we need to go pick up some woodware (hive bodies etc.) we purchased from a retired beekeeper and then go to both outyards to refill feeders, add a super to one hive, and check on a queen in another hive.  We'd marked one hive as a deadout when we were trying to finish inspections right before dark one evening, but found a handful of bees and a queen still alive in the robbed-out and wax-moth infested mess the next day.   We pulled some brood and nectar from our strongest hive in that yard to help get that hive going again, but the queen flew off in the transfer.   (I actually caught her in my hands, but then she flew off again when I opened my hands to see what I'd caught.)   We hope she made her way back home and is enjoying the top feeder.   With hives in four locations, we really needed a better way of tracking inspections and our apiary to-do list.   We tried a few apps, and Hivetool Mobile is working well for us as data syncs across devices, so hubby and I both have access to records.   Inspections go a lot quicker when one of us checks frames and the other updates Hivetool.   Hivetool also allows us to move a hive from one location to another while retaining history.  Apiary Book is another good app, but data is limited to one device -- it would work very well for an apiary in which only one person is entering data.   In between everything else, I need to number hive bottom boards to make tracking new hives easier as we assemble them.  Our quick growth has led to us being less organized about things like that than we would like, so we're eating that elephant on bite at a time!   Of course I've added a second elephant and am trying to write an apiary centered inventory program using Visual Basic in my spare time! 

I've joked about needing to go back to work so that I don't have to work so hard, but I'm loving every minute of it.   On the other hand, my students did very well on the IB exam and I am excited about teaching a new crew in a few weeks.  Concentrating on non-education activities this summer has revived my love of teaching, and we'll start heading into a quieter garden and hive time soon.   Our home-on-wheels is set up for relaxing get-aways throughout the school year.   Life is good!

Just jamming...

Figs - July 2016

Just like last year, I am back to trying to beat the mocking bird to the ripe figs by picking figs early morning and late afternoon.   He gets one or two, especially the ones at the top of the tree, but I don't mind so long as I have enough to make jam.

The first batch of jam I made used 3 pounds of figs and one pound of blueberries, and I like that I can still taste the figs.   In one of the batches I made last year, the blueberries overpowered the figs.  It was still good jam, but I prefer this batch.

The second batch used one pound of figs and one pound of strawberries.  I also used one cup of honey and one cup of sugar instead of two cups of sugar.  The fig/strawberry mix is good and there is just a hint of honey flavor.   We both really like this recipe, but strawberry jam doesn't set as easily, and I'd like the next batch to be a little firmer.   I used some pectin, but clearly not enough!

Today I used the same Drunken Fig Jam recipe that everyone liked so much last year, but I substituted honey for half the sugar.   We couldn't taste the honey at all, so I will just use sugar next time.  It makes more sense to keep honey in the pantry than to hide it in jam.   I'll make some more batches of the original recipe, but then I plan to experiment using Stevia for a lower calorie version.     

Between checking hives, feeding bees, and making jam, I have no time to get bored at all.  Summer is flying by, and we have to stop to consciously look at what we have accomplished rather than focusing on what we have not yet even started.  

Living on our land.

RV moved onto our land.

Thanks to BIL, BIL's friend, and BH, our RV is now on our land and we went to sleep and woke up looking at tree tops -- our tree tops!   Having never moved an RV before, I don't know if it's always such a bear to get one set up, but I do know that the new scissor jack that looks prettier than the others but refuses to work makes everything more complicated.   We also thought the pad was more level than it actually is, so if we ever do this again I'll actually break out the level and see where we may need to add more gravel before parking the behemoth.   We've enjoyed sitting outside drinking our morning coffee and sitting outside at the end of the day watching the sun set.   It's easier to notice all the wild life when we just sit still for a while.  We've also withstood our first thunderstorm, so we know that the fibreglass remained intact over the leaky roof bits.   We still have the other roof coating to put on, but it requires 24 hours of dry time, which means that we won't be able to run the A/C once we paint it on.  The plan is to put it on when we have a dry morning before heading back to the city.   The plan may turn into putting it on when it's cool enough to not need A/C.   After working outside in 98 degree heat the last few days, that sounds like a better plan to me.

Checking the English hive

Being out there first thing in the morning made it easier to check on our bees.   All of the hives except one are doing okay, but the dearth is definately upon us.   The queens are not laying and there is very little nectar in the hives.   There's still pollen coming in, but no nectar.  We found the same thing happening when we got back to the city, although one queen is still laying well.  The new queen in my English hive is very active, but has not laid any eggs yet.  We put some sugar water out and hope that jumpstarts all the queens.  

We had opened the English hive shortly after our new queen had hatched.  It was clear that she had dispatched most of her sisters, but there were two queen cells intact that we had hoped we got to before she did.   No dice.   The two-frame section of the queen castle in which we installed the cells with a couple of frames of bees from another hive contained only a few dead bees, some hive beetles, and wax moth trails.   We were disappointed and took the frames over to the shed so that we could put them in the freezer as soon as we took the suits off.   Hubby put the smoker and hive tool up, took off his jacket, turned around to pick up the frames, and, lo-and-behold, there was a brand new queen searching the frames.   Of course, all the queen isolation stuff was in the garage, but we did manage to get her into a queen cage and installed into the castle with a couple of frames of bees, larvae, and honey.     We're pretty sure we have a drone congreation area in our yard as we have found an abnormal number of queens and I've even had mating bees clinging to my tshirt!

Figs, July 11, 2016

Finding the queen would have been enough excitement for one day, but we also picked 3 pounds of figs that ripened while we were gone.   I currently have mason jars sterilizing in the dishwasher and will start making jam just as soon as I finish my second cup of coffee.   I want to try using honey instead of sugar (or using a mixture of the two) this year, but I'll do that with a small batch later.    Honey-whiskey ribs are already a big hit in our house.   I have an entire book of honey recipes to try, so we'll keep feeding the bees in hopes that they will feed us in return.  

Filling in trenches!

First trench

Case backhoe

A few weeks ago, hubby dug the trenches for our water lines.  The piece of equipment he wanted wasn't available, so he got the Terramite backhoe way in the back of the picture to the left.  It managed to dig out the packed clay, but stumps defeated it.   Our wonderful neighbor, BH, came over and offered us the use of something a little bigger.   Hubby had lots of fun digging with this one and managed to get over 400 feet of trenching done in two days. We finally have the right water pipes, have them installed, pressure tested for leaks, marked well, and we are ready to fill in the holes.  The first thing we tackled was the break in the driveway as we either had to carry everything over the trench or take the long way around with the four wheeler -- which I won't drive cross-country!    I'm still getting used to it and have only reached a maximum speed of 7 m.p.h. on the driveway so far.

Water line inside a sleeve

Pipes clearly marked

BH suggested that we feed our water and power line to the well through a larger piece of PVC pipe in order to protect it some from the pressure of us driving across the section that runs under the driveway.  Most of the damage he sees to underground pipes stems from rocks abrading the plastic and that is more likely to happen under a heavily traveled area.  Other suggestions that he made were to wrap the pipe in caution tape and tie wrap the electric line so that it stays under the pipe.   That way, if we forget where the lines are and start digging, the first thing we'll hit is the water and that's only if we don't notice the caution tape.   The next step was to rake soil around and under the pipes so that when we backfill the trenches, the pipes are supported and the soil immediately around them is clear of rocks.  That was my main job today, and I only got a short run finished.  Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow?

Back to the driveway....

Hubby rented a soil compactor so that the driveway remains stable over the long haul.  Haul is a good word as we pretty much had to haul the darn thing up the trench and sometimes give it a helping hand on the downhill run too!   That's why I'm back at the RV typing instead of still digging and raking out in the 97 degree weather with the men.  (8 hours of that was enough.)  It was an interesting and tedious experience, but I know that section of driveway isn't going anywhere.

Woodford faucet

The outdoor water faucets hubby installed drain when you turn them off, releasing the water back into the soil and preventing the faucets from freezing.   They are available in a variety of lengths so that they can be buried deeper in colder regions.  The ones we have are buried two feet in the ground.   The base is surrounded by drainage rock so that water can drain easily, and hubby covered the exit with fabric to prevent dirt and roots from entering.   We have other faucets at intervals along the long run of pipe so that we can attach drip irrigation lines eventually, but the main water sources for the RV and the workshop are these very robust ones.  (The drip irrigation faucets will be low to the ground and easy to cover in winter.)   Another of BH's suggestions for these long runs of pipe was to install telescoping repair couplings at intervals to enable expansion and contraction without the pipes having to bend.  This afternoon pipe that was straight in the morning was significantly bowed by 3:00 p.m. and the installation of couplings like these took care of that.

We also installed a spin down water filter on the main water line coming from the well.   (I'm not sure if it's the same brand as the one in the link.)

Spin down water filter

This style was the third filter we tried on the irrigation well at our house after having non-stop problems with sprinklers not shutting off and other zones not turning on. The more traditional filters clogged too easily with the fine sediment, but this one worked perfectly.   It also doesn't require any additional purchases, like replacement filters.  When it becomes clogged, simply turn the handle and it flushes out.  We had to do this multiple times a day for the first month we had the irrigation well, but only flush it a few times a year since we had a heavy rain flow that apparently flushed out the water table.   We have a bucket with gravel underneath it as water rushing out onto bare ground created a muddy mess, but we have been very happy with the system.

When hubby rented the soil compactor from Taylor-Foster Hardware, he also rented an Outback Brush Cutter for me.    My first hour with it was a little hair-raising as I felt like it was in control and was intent on dragging me into the woods!    After that, I simply slowed it down to a pace at which a snail could have easily passed me and then I didn't stop until it ran out of gas.   It did a great job clearing brambles and other weeds.   I'd planned to use it along our fence line today, but never made it out of the trenches  until I made my escape to the air-conditioning.  (I'm preparing to teach a unit of World War I poetry, so thoughts of trench warfare are always hovering around somewhere in my brain.)    The brush cutter certainly did a better job than the weedeater and in less time.  Each one puts a different muscle group to work, so maybe I need both after we find gold and can afford a $5,000 piece of equipment!  

Until we find that gold, we'll definitely keep renting equipment and shopping for supplies at Taylor-Foster in Manchester, GA.   The people there are always so friendly and helpful and they have an amazing selection of supplies for a small town store.  They also have an ice-cream freezer right next to the checkout counter, and you won't find that at the big box stores.   We bought plumbing parts yesterday and then bought strawberry shortcake ice cream bars for lunch!

The bees continue to do well here and are bringing in lots of pollen.  The city bees abandoned my lavender for Echinacea while we were away.  I spotted 5 different bee varieties on the Echinacea and Pholx in just a couple of minutes.   The bees are happy.  We are happy.   Life is good!

Bees on Echinacea, July 2016

Enjoying the rain

Rainy afternoon at the farm.

Many years ago, a friend from Seattle came to visit while South Carolina was in the middle of a drought.  We went out to Congaree Swamp and got caught in a downpour, and he simply could not understand my ecstatic dance as the rain cooled the 100 degree day and provided much needed water to our state.  It continued to pour for hours, the parking  lot at the baseball park flooded, and still I was happy.  Now, I would also not have understood when I lived in Germany or England, but, like Seattle, rain is more common in both of those places than sunshine, which is what makes all the scenic photos and postcards so lush and green!  

The area of Georgia where our farm is located has been edging into a drought, and working on weed-eating and finishing the water lines has been hot, sweaty work the past few days.   The good thing is that the fig trees and Goldenrain trees are hanging in there, presumably pushing their roots down into the Georgia clay, which will help them in the long run.    Still, the daylilies are a little brown and two of the Goldenraintrees were a little

The "redneck living room"

droopy, but this afternoon it started to rain.   We bought a bench and a beach umbrella a couple of days ago, and when the rain started we sat in what I have dubbed the redneck living room and listened to the rain fall in our woods and on the umbrella.  We stayed there until the rain soaked through our jeans and just enjoyed the sounds of the rain and the birds.   Once our jeans were so wet that we couldn't bend our legs, we decided to head back to the RV where we have continued to listen to the rain for the past 4 hours.

One other thing I noticed today is that the soil around the figs was still damp this morning from the water I put on them yesterday.   That made schlepping a watering can and milk jug of water 300 or so yards worthwhile!   We're used to dealing with South Carolina sand that feels bone dry an hour after the sprinklers run.   It's no wonder that the daylilies here look better than the ones in Columbia that get watered 3 times a week.

There is more rain forecast for the next few days, and I am still thankful after seeing the corn and the hay fields so very dry around here.   I'm enjoying reading The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy again and we both needed a relaxing afternoon.   Now, if it rains for two weeks straight again, like it did over winter break, I'll be back to complaining, but for now the sound of rain is a good thing.

Delays, delays, and more delays!

Bee on lavender, June 2016

Last week we spent two days at the farm, went to workshops, and returned home for dental appointments.  We had planned to head back to the farm yesterday, but that didn't work out.   We intended to check the bees in the out yards on Saturday, and are just getting around to doing so today.  It's been a busy weekend and week.

The good news is that I was able to get the bones of the website coded and uploaded.  It took me a while to get back into writing HTML, but that part of my brain finally kicked back into gear and I'm happy with the design.  I have used CoffeeCup Software for web design for at least 15 years, but this was my first time using their Responsive Site Designer to create a template which I then edited through the HTML editor.   If I decide to start creating websites for other people again, I will probably buy and spend the time learning to use the site designer, but for now it was less of a learning (relearning) curve to just do things the old-fashioned way!   I've also really enjoyed taking and editing photographs to use on the site.    We still have to take inventory and then decide on pricing for items, but updating that won't take me long at all.  The deciding is going to be what sucks all the time out of the days ahead!

Brushy Mountain English Hive

We used one of the website pictures for our business cards so that the site and the cards have similar themes.   We realized that we needed to get cards when we met many great people at the workshops last week.  The business card picture features the English Hive that hubby won at the Bee Institute -- we set it up next to one of our Adirondack chairs  and I love sitting there watching the bees fly in and out.

Hubby also cut wood and built hive boxes, covers, and bottom boards, which I then painted.  I do have to wonder about his math sometimes as I'm sure he told me there were 10 covers to paint.  I stopped counting at 13.....   Maybe he didn't think I'd go outside to start painting if I knew the real scope of the project.  (He's probably right -- it was HOT out there!)

Now we just have to replace the rusted-out bolts from a toilet tank, check the other toilets to see how close they are to springing leaks, vacuum seal and freeze the whiskey-honey ribs I cooked yesterday , and then maybe take a nap before deciding when to leave the big city for the peace and quiet of the country.   Not being on the farm has been frustrating, but the days in the city have been productive and satisfying. 

AgAware/Agsouth

Bee on lavender, June 2016

The school year is over, JROTC camp is over, hubby is on vacation, and we are very much looking forward to waking up on our own land.   We still have water and septic lines to finish up and bees to move, but when a friend told us about a couple of workshops this week, we felt attending them was well worth delaying other projects, and we were right.

Yesterday we attended the Team Agriculture Georgia (TAG) Workshop for Small, Beginning, and Limited Resource Farmers.   We learned a lot about the resources (financial and other) available to us.  Even though hubby's degrees are in business, farming is a different kind of business than the ones he studied in school.  AgSouth offers many courses at no cost to farmers, some of which help you qualify for FSA loans.  I have four typed pages of notes just about creating a business plan.   One of the things that stood out to me from the AgSouth presentation is that we need to move our mindset away from bee-keeping as a hobby and toward bee-keeping as a business.   While I've thought of it as a business, the presentation made me realize that I was actually still mentally in hobby mode.   Our conversations since yesterday have been productive.   Something as simple as setting a goal that is specific, measurable, attainable, rewarding, and timed  (a SMART goal) instead of having a general goal of wanting "more" bees and honey has made me think deeply.

The afternoon session we attended informed us about USDA programs available.   The Natural Resources Conservation Service is there to help private landowners make good conservation decision, and they will come to your farm to make suggestions about all kinds of things.  One of the things mentioned was "herbaceous weed control" and we're wondering if they'd have suggestions as to how to get rid of the blackberries and those spiny vines!

The first session we attended was about honey bees and other pollinators.  While we already knew much of what was discussed, we did pick up some good additional information and it stroked our egos to realize how much we do know!   We also got some ideas about services we can possibly offer to farmers and beginning bee-keepers in our area.

Today we attended an AgAware Marketing Seminar that was replete with information and resulted in another 4 pages of typed notes in addition to hubby's notes.   When he finally makes it home through the wind, and the rain, and the downed trees, and downed power lines (it's been a long, interesting trip home for him), we'll combine notes and discuss which of the many things we want to research from both days to prioritize.

If anyone is interested, I'd be glad to share my notes, but I strongly recommend attending workshops like these, especially if you are just getting started, or even just thinking about, building an agriculture business of any size.   We learned so much and we are so excited to refine our business plan.

Other news that I still need to blog about:  we harvested our first honey, we waterproofed the RV roof, we dug trenches for water lines, and we drank from our well.  It's been an exciting few weeks!  My brain has been rebelling against putting anything into complete sentences or proof-reading, but I'm ready to start writing again now.

Making progress.

It's only been a year since we first started talking about looking for retirement land close to my brother-in-law (BIL) instead of close to Bryson City, NC.   We really enjoyed last Memorial Day with BIL and family and the peace and quiet of being on his land. 

Digging trenches for water lines, May 2016

Since then, we've found land that we absolutely love, refurbished an RV that will be our first home on that land, met the best neighbor's in the world, had our trees thinned, a driveway constructed, electricity brought in, and a well dug.  We made good progress on water and septic lines this weekend, and are looking forward to moving the RV to the land by the middle of June.  Then we'll be able to sit in front of our mini-home first thing in the morning and last thing at night and plan where to build the house.

Our first hives are thriving in the woods, and most of our plants are doing well.  Some of my fig cuttings are struggling, and the blueberries never even pushed out the first leaf, but one of the large figs a friend gave us has two baby figs on it.   It has a long way to go to catch up with the fig in our back yard, but we hadn't expected to see fruit this year at all.  Even though the other fig tree doesn't have any fruit yet, I'm very pleased with the way it looks.  By the time we retire, I'm convinced I'll have more than enough figs on those trees to make all the jam I want or need. The two magnolias I planted are thriving.   Three of the daylillies are blooming and the others are doing well, especially considering that they are having to survive without the benefit of an irrigation system!   The gardenias that we planted by the gate are greening up, but there hasn't been much new growth on them since we planted them at Thanksgiving.

Now that the pine trees have been thinned, we are seeing quite a few tulip poplars popping up.  They are a good source of nutrition for the bees, so we're excited to see them.  Of course, the briars are also thriving in all the additional light, but I took care of all the ones between the deck and the bee hives with the weed-eater yesterday!   That trail is too uneven to bush-hog, but I don't mind using the weed-eater as I can cut around any ferns I spot.   The way I feel today, the weed-eater is also going to help me build muscles!

We have another week of school, then hubby has a week of JROTC camp, but after that we'll be able to work our land every weekend until August.   We'll move bees down Thursday evenings after hubby gets off work and maybe even move some of our trees down once we see which areas stay moist even when it doesn't rain.  This weekend was hard work, but so very rewarding.   Our retirement dream becomes more real with every trip.

Bees 'n Trees

Honeycomb inside the tree

Our mantra on those stressful days that everyone, regardless of career field, has is "Bees and Trees."  It helps remind us that the time is approaching when our schedule will be governed more by the seasons and sunsets and less by bells and deadlines.  However, today "Bees 'n Trees" refers to bees IN trees.

We were asked to try to save a hive inside a hollowed out tree that had been struck by lightening years ago.   Pest control companies have exterminated colonies a few times in the past, but bees keep finding this fantastic place to live and moving back in again. 

Removing the small tree.

Two trees have actually merged at the base and it is at this split that the bees were entering.  We couldn't see inside the split because another tree had grown up, leaving just enough room for bees to enter.  After removing that tree and widening the hole a little, we were able to take the above picture of the beautiful comb hanging down from somewhere....   Hubby widened the hole again, and we could see and reach more.  The hollow part of the tree -- and the hive -- extends into at least two chambers with somewhat rotten wood between them.  At this point, bees were exiting from a variety of small holes around the tree -- some of which were at waist height.  We have no idea how far up the tree this hive extends.  He pulled out some of the most beautiful comb I have seen.  Still, even after cutting as much as we felt was safe, we were unable to reach any comb with brood, although we did gather enough comb with empty cells or honey to fill two large and two medium frames.    We put those frames in a Nuc and left it at the hive entrance in hopes of attracting, and thereby saving, some of the bees.

The first look inside.

As the tree is split and each side has a wide crown, it's just not possible for us to safely retrieve these bees.  The property owner may opt to have the trees cut down by an arborist.  If that is the route she takes, we will try to save the bees at that time.  It is such a friendly and productive hive; we would hate to see such good genetic stock removed from the gene pool (never mind that we simply like the critters!). But they are in town close to a playground,  and no-one wants to see children stung.